Governor-Elect Roy Cooper released the following statement on Governor Pat McCrory’s concession:

“I want to thank Governor McCrory and our First Lady Ann McCrory for their service to our state. Kristin and I look forward to working with them and their staff in what I expect will be a smooth transition.

“I’m proud to have received the support from so many who believe that we can come together to make a North Carolina that works for everyone. It will be the honor of my life to serve this great state. While this was a divisive election season, I know still that there is more that unites us than divides us. Together, we can make North Carolina the shining beacon in the south by investing in our schools, supporting working families and building a state that works for everyone. I’d like to thank all of the hardworking families in North Carolina, and I look forward to serving the greatest state in the country as your Governor.”

While this is a tremendous victory for North Carolina voters, we need to turn our attention quickly to the emergency session McCrory has called for next week.

Rumors persist that lawmakers plan to pack the State Supreme Court during the session to deal with damage from Hurricane Matthew and the wildfires.

Leadership on the Republican side is refusing to comment on the court-packing scheme, but worryingly they won’t rule it out. Under this undemocratic scheme, lame-duck McCrory would appoint TWO new State Supreme Court judges.

According to www.wral.com November 10th, post-election buzz has erupted that the Republican legislative leaders want to add two more justices to the State Supreme Court to keep the court’s GOP majority. They’re upset that voters replaced Republican Supreme Court Justice Bob Edmonds with Democrat Mike Morgan – which would give the Democrats a 4-3 majority on the high court.

Word is that the leadership would have the General Assembly vote to add the additional justices during a special session to be called sometime in December to deal with Hurricane Matthew relief issues.

Once approved, Gov. Pat McCrory would appoint the new justices before the end of the year. McCrory, a Republican, came up short by 5,000 votes to Democrat Roy Cooper in his re-election bid. He’s refused to concede the election while provisional and absentee ballots are being counted. If there’s no shift in the vote, McCrory will be out of office at the end of the year.

“This is the height of disrespect of state’s voters,” said state Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue, D-Wake, who acknowledges he’d also heard about the court packing plan to add the justices and said he takes it seriously. “To add justices just because they don’t like the outcome of the election is outrageous.”

He said it will cost hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to add the two justices. There has been no significant change, or increase, in the workload of the court over the last 10 years, according to the most recent Statistical and Operation Report of the state appellate courts.